Paper-cutting mechanism



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. S WHEELER PAPER CUTTING MECHANISM;

Patented Dec. 30, 1890.

WITNESSES.

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UNiTED STATES ATENT FFICE.

SETH WHEELER, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

PAPER-CUTTING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,708, dated December 30, 1890. Application filed March 19, 1890. Serial No. 344,534. (No model.) Patented in England November 1, 1887, No. 14,886.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LSEIH WHEELER, of the city and county of Albany and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improve ments in Paper Cutting Mechanism, (for which I have received a patent in Great Britain, No. 14,886, dated November 1, 1887,) of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the annexed drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in cutters of paper-cutting machines, and has particular relation to the mechanism for cutting the sheets of wrapping or toilet paper into the geometrical forms shown in Letters Patent No. 361,603, granted to me on the 19th day of April, 1887.

The main feature of my invention lies in the fact that in performing the cutting necessary to produce any desired form the work is done without bringing the cutting-edge of the knives in contact with anything other than the web of paper acted upon. The advantages of this construction are increased durability of the cutting mechanism as compared to the ordinary die or shear action, lessened cost of construction, and ready adjustment and ease of action, as will liereinafter clearly appear.

In the accompanying drawings, which are herein referred to and form part of this specification, Figures 1, 2, and 3 are views of the simplest forms of my cutters, 1 being a perspective view of the cutter, die, and stripper; Fig. 2, a plan view of the die with the stripper removed; and Fig. 3 a transverse section of the cutter, die, and stripper at the line a at. Fig. 4: is a perspective view of the cutter-knives, die, and stripper for cutting out small squares of paper, and is particularly designed for removing the wastage 1n the octagonal forms shown in Fig. 7 of my former patent above referred to; Fig. 5, a plan view of the die shown in Fig. 4,with the stripper removed therefrom; Fig. 6, a transverse section of Fig. 4 at the line 3 3 Fig. 7, an inverted plan view of a cutter for cutting a web of paper into the hexagonal blanks shown in Fig. 3 of my former patent above referred to; Fig. 8, a plan view of the die and stripper for the latter; Fig. 9, a perspective view of a cutter for cutting a web of paper into the circular forms shown in Fig.6 of my former patent above referred; Fig. 10, a plan View of the die and stripper for the latter, and Figsll and 12 are modified forms of the cuttingedge of the cutters.

In the drawings,Ais the cutter-head, which is made in any form best suited to the character of the work required to be produced. The cutter B, of which there may be one or several secured to each cutter-head accord ing to the requirements of the work, is made of sheet-steel and has its lower edge beveled at each side to form a knife-like cutting-edge,and the latter, instead of being made on a straight line, is inclined longitudinally from an entering point I), so that as the cutter descends the cutwill be commenced by said entering-point and gradually extended therefrom across the paper. The effect of this is to strain the paper in advance of the out, thereby producing a shearing out, which effects the cutting of the paper with great facility. Instead of a single entering-point, as shown in Fig. Leach. cutter may, when preferred, have several such entering-points with an inverted-V-shaped outline of cutting-edges intervening between said entering-points, as shown in Fig. 12.

The die or bed-piece 0 may have a slotted opening 0 cut entirely through it, as shown in Fig. 3, or it may have grooves 0' cut in its upper surface, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6 and indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 5, 8, and 10, said slotted openings and grooves being made of sufficientwidth to give the cutters B ample clearance therein.- Face-pieces D of sheet metal are secured to the upper face of each die, so as to form a narrow slotted opening d, which will conform to the horizontal cross-sectional form of the cutter or cutters secured to the cutter-head, to which the die corresponds. Said slotted opening 01 is directly over the opening or groove in the die, and it forms a supplementary part of the cutting mechanism.

As shown in Fig. 2, the face-pieces D are fitted to form a straight slotted opening d. As shown in Fig. 5, they form a slotted opening around the four sides of a square. In Fig. 8 they form a slotted opening which conforms to three connected sides of a hexagon, a bridge (.l being across one line of said opening for the purpose of producing a break in the continuity of the separation, so as to leave a connecting strip between the several hexagonal blanks that are cut from a web of 5 paper, and in Fig. said face-pieces are arranged to form an annular opening cl, having oppositely-located bridges (Z, by which a connecting-strip will be left between the successive circular sheets that are cut from a web of paper, and it will be seen that in the cutters shown in Figs. 7 and 9 blank spaces 1) are formed in or left between the cutters B for the purpose of spanning the bridges cl, so that no cuts will be there made and the paper will be left entire at the proper points to produce the connecting-strips between the blanks.

The stripper E for clearing the web of paper from the cutters B is placed a slight distance from the face of the die 0, so as to leave an opening-space G between the adjacent faces of the die and stripper to permit the web of paper to be fed therethrough, where it will be in position to be operated on by r the descending cutters.

As shown in the drawings, the stripper E is held rigidly in place on the strips F; but when preferred said stripper may be held on yielding supports, which will normally hold said stripper clear from the face of the paper; but as the cutter descends said stripper will be brought in contact with the paper, to remain there while the cutter is performing its work and be raised therefrom on the returirstrokc of the cutter.

As shown in Figs. 1 and S, the strippers E have in them slotted openings c, which conform to the slotted openings (Z of the facepieces of their corresponding dies; but, as shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 10, the central portion of the stripper is omitted, and the openin g through said stripper conforms to the outline of the outer side of the slotted opening at in the face-pieces of the corresponding die. This stripper is not an indispensable feature, and may be dispensed with by an increase in the reciprocating movement of the cutters sufficient to clear them from the paper, which will be freed from the cutters by the tension on the web produced by the feeding devices.

It will be observed that that part of the mechanism which I term a die is not a die in the usual sense -i. 0., the edges of the openings therein do not perform their usual function in effecting the division of the material acted upon. To have it do so would require exceedingly nice adjustment of the cutters with relation to the edges of the die to cut this material, and would involve the usual rapid wear and friction unavoidable between two closely fitting metal surfaces, the lubrication of which, for obvious reasons, from the nature of the work performed, impracti' cable.

I accomplish the separation of the paper without the usual close adjustment by the novel cutting action of a knife or cutter of peculiar construction, which, first puncturing the paper at one or more points on the line of proposed division, completes the sepaaration midway between the edges of the opening by its forward movement. The cutting action, it will be seen, more nearly approaches the action of the ordinary hand paper-cutter used for separating the leaves of books, the near support of ,the edges of the so-called die serving, instead of the usual fold, to sustain the paper against the action of the knife. It is obvious that in separating paper in this manner the cutting-edge 0f the knife is not in contact with the edges of the die-opening, and equally so that the keen edge required in the cutters of paper-cutting machinery, as heretofore constructed, or the close contact required between a punch and die or shear, as ordinarily operated, is quite unnecessary. I have shown the knives beveled on both sides, and prefer such knives as making it practically impossible to bring the cutting-edges in contact with the edge of the die-openin gs through carelessness of the operator; but it is clear the same result would be reached if the knives were beveled on one side only. The number of puncturing-points is determined by the length of the cut to be made and the limit of the forward movement of the cutter. \Vith a limited forward movement more such points are necessary to effect along out than would be requisite with a greater forward movement; in short, the greater the number of points the shorter may be the forward movement, and vice versa.

Instead of a single cutter and die, as shown in the drawings, my invention embraces the use of several similar cutters and corresponding dies and strippers arranged contiguously to produce a series of simultaneous cuts in a wide web of paper, and instead of being arranged 011 a level plane the dies may be fixed on a rotating cylinder to coact with reciprocating cutters to effect the cutting of the paper.

\Vhen preferred, the relative position of the cutters and dies may be reversed-that is to say, with the dies placed uppermost and the cutters below--or the cutters may be held in a stationary position while the dies have a rcciprocating movement imparted to them.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a paper-cutting machine, the combination of a die having openings conforming to the cuts to be made in the paper, and

knives arranged, substantially as described, so that their cutting-edges perform their work without contact withthe edges of the die-openings,said knives having one or more entering or puncturing points, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

2. In a paper-cutting machine, a cutter or series of cutters provided with cutting-edges inclined longitudinally from one or more puncturing-points, in combination with a bedpiece or die having an opening or series of openings corresponding to and arranged to receive the cutter or series of cutters after their passage through the paper without contact with their cutting-edges, substantially as described.

3. In a reciprocating papercutting mechanism, a cutter-head carrying a series of cutters having one or more puncturing-points and blank spaces, in combination with a bedpiece or die having an opening or openings corresponding and arranged to receive the series of cutters without contact with their cutting-edges, and formed with a bridge or bridges across said opening or-openings opposite the blank spaces in the knives, whereby connecting-strips are formed between the blanks cut, substantially as described.

4. In a paper-cutting machine, a cutter or series of cutters having one or more puncturing-points, a bed-piece or die provided with an opposing opening or series of openings arranged to receive the cutter or series of cut ters without contact with their cutting-edges, in combination with a stripper through which the said cutter or series of cutters reciprocate, and which is arranged at a proper distance from the bed-piece or die to admit the passage of the paper to be operated upon between said stripper and bed-piece or die, substantially as d escribed.

SETH WHEELER.

Witnesses:

E. J. WHEELER, WM. A. WHEELER. 

